Confessions
by appleslovetea
Summary: COMPLETE - Akihito has once again got himself in trouble with Asami.
1. PART I

**Confessions**

* * *

The bitter taste of alcohol was still in Akihito's mouth as he woke up that morning.

He knew he had a hangover even before he managed to open his eyes. As soon as he did so though, he was forced to close them again fearing the bright sunlight shining down on him through the window would be enough to blind him on the spot.

Cursing under his breath, Akihito rolled onto his stomach in bed trying to remember the previous night's events that would account for his present state.

He recalled meeting Kou and Takato for drinks at an izakaya after work, but other than that his mind was a blur. No doubt the three of them had partaken in some sort of a drinking game as per usual, but this one had hit the photographer really hard. He had no recollection whatsoever of making his way back to the apartment afterwards.

The sound of his cellphone unexpectedly going off only managed to increase Akihito's grunts. Apart from messing with his sight, the hangover was also amplifying every sound around him by a tenfold, and so he heard the ringtone as if loud speakers were projecting it directly into his ears.

"What? !" He all but screamed at the cellphone as soon as he managed to find it on the pile of discarded clothes next to his bed.

"Akihito?..." Kou's voice was heard on the other side. He sounded relieved to hear the photographer's voice.

"Kou…What the hell happened yesterday?" Akihito asked, hiding his head under a pillow to protect his eyes from the sunlight. "How much did we drink?"

"…A lot, I guess. Takato is pretty wasted too. I just spoke to him on the phone. His girlfriend apparently had a fit when she realized he got home drunk."

The photographer grimaced under the pillow. Poor Takato! Having had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting the woman in question, Akihito could only imagine the tantrum she had pulled on his unlucky friend.

"I should call him too, to give him some support, I guess."

"Hey… Akihito…"

"What?"

"So…how did things go last night?...After you left the izakaya, I mean?"

Akihito yawned tiredly, not understanding the question.

"What do you mean?"

"Huh…you know…How did things work out with the guy?"

For a second, the photographer thought Kou was himself still drunk and imagining things.

"…What guy? What are you talking about, Kou?"

A pause followed on the other side of the line. Kou was probably thinking the same thing of his friend.

"You know, Akihito. The scary guy that came to pick you up at the izakaya in the limo…What was it that you called him?...Ah, yes, I remember! Asami-san!"

Akihito sat up in bed as if propelled by a trampoline, his eyes widening as much as humanly possible.

"_W-What_? W-What did you just say?"

Kou noticed the distress in his voice.

"Don't you remember, Akihito?" He asked, hesitantly now. "You called that guy, Asami-san, or whatever his name is, to come pick you up because you were too drunk to drive your bike back home and well… a limo showed up about twenty minutes later with the guy in question."

Akihito's heart was beating inside his throat. Even though he had no memory of the event, he knew there was no way that Kou could be pulling his leg on it. Akihito never spoke of Asami around his two best friends.

"…So did everything work out ok in the end?"

It was the slightly nervous tone on his friend's voice that made Akihito suspect that there was more to the story.

"W-Why are you asking me that? What happened exactly?"

"Huh…" Kou started, clearly not knowing what to say next. "Do you really not remember anything about it, Akihito?" He said; his voice barely louder than a whisper now.

The photographer felt a cold shiver run down his spine. "Remember what?" He asked fearfully.

"The argument you had with the guy."

"_Argument_? ! What argument? What were we arguing about?"

"I- I don't know, Akihito. At the time I was helping Takato throw up in the izakaya's bathroom. It was only when we returned to the front room that we noticed all of the customers and staff peeking out the windows at you and the guy still on the street. I couldn't hear what you were saying, but you appeared to be shouting at the man."

Akihito gulped hard. How could he possibly not remember any of it? It was a good thing he was sitting down though, for he felt he had no strength on his legs at the moment.

"…But wait…There's more." Kou said a moment afterwards, further increasing Akihito's unease.

"W-What?"

"Well…I'm sure it just happened because you were drunk."

"Kou…"

"You shouldn't read too much into it."

"Kou."

"We all say stupid things when we are drunk, after all."

"Kou! Spit it out already!"

"Huh…well, you see, when Takato and I reached the window we saw that you were crying and before we had a chance to call out to you, you said…you said…"

"_What_? ! For crying out loud!"

"…You said to Asami-san straight in the face that you are in love with him."

It was as if life as Akihito had known it for the past 23 years had blown up in his ear. He felt the cellphone slowly dropping from his hand onto the duvet cover; his heart beating so fast that for a moment he thought he was going to have a heart attack.

"…Akihito? Akihito, are you there?" The faint voice of his friend eventually reached him.

The photographer picked up the cellphone again, realizing for the first time how much he was shaking.

He nevertheless tried to sound as amusing and lighthearted as possible as he dismissed his friend, of course blaming his odd behavior from the previous night on his massive drunkenness.

As soon as the call ended though, Akihito threw himself over his pillow, screaming his frustration into it, the sound ending up being muffled by the many layers of foam and fabric.

He desperately tried to dig out from the depths of his mind the memories from the previous night, but still nothing came to him.

Had he really confessed his feelings to Asami? While drunk? !

Oh, what to do now? What to do now? What to do now?

Akihito was already pulling at his hair in despair when he thought he heard noises coming from the kitchen, just a couple of doors down from his bedroom.

Quickly sitting back up in bed, he trained his ears to pick up on any sounds coming from that direction, and soon enough heard the distinct noise of someone opening and closing the kitchen cabinets…which could only mean one thing…

Asami Ryuichi was already up and fixing himself breakfast,… as he normally did whenever Akihito slept in late.

A thousand scenarios crossed the photographer's mind in the following minutes. Maybe Asami had not paid attention to Akihito's confession. The young man was more than obviously drunk and incoherent, after all.

Or maybe Akihito could just pretend he didn't recall anything about the previous night (which deep down was the truth) and act naturally towards Asami as if nothing weird had happened between the two of them.

…Yeah, as if Akihito would be able to pull that stunt now.

The young man looked towards the balcony outside his window, as a brilliant plan began to form in his mind.

The balcony surrounded the entire penthouse, so if Akihito were to cross it quietly now, he could enter the apartment through the living room and from there he could make his way towards the entrance hall and the front door, all without raising Asami's suspicions inside the kitchen.

After that Akihito could always leave the apartment and go hide himself inside a cave in the mountains until his mortification subsided sufficiently and he was able to face Asami again.

Yes, it sounded like a perfectly reasonable plan to the photographer.

Without losing another moment, he scrambled out of bed and into his closet, where he quickly put on the first pairs of clothing he managed to find, also picking up his duffel bag, which he crammed with a few extra clothes, shoes, a jacket and his camera.

Pushing aside the cowardly feelings threatening to overwhelm him, Akihito quickly made his way towards the opened window.

One of his legs was already over the casement, when a familiar voice reached him from the door, freezing him on the spot.

"Akihito… what the hell are you doing?" Asami said, making the younger man's head turn towards him in panic.

Asami had stopped over the threshold, one hand still on the doorknob, while the other held a tray filled with breakfast food.

Not that Akihito had much time to notice these details, for as soon as his eyes fell on Asami, he lost his balance and fell awkwardly backwards onto his paper filled desk and from there towards the hard wooden floor.

(to be continued)


	2. PART II

**Confessions**

* * *

Asami dabbed a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol, purposely ignoring Akihito's pained hiss, as he afterwards touched the cotton to the youngster's forehead wound.

"Ouch, that hurts!"

"It's rubbing alcohol. It's supposed to hurt. It means it's doing its job. Now stop fidgeting." The older man replied, pressing another cotton ball against the wound.

"Ouch!... Can you at least try to be gentler? It's hurting like hell." The photographer stated, glancing up towards Asami in an accusatory fashion, which the latter dismissed entirely.

"You should have thought about how much it could hurt before you tried to runaway through the window." The yakuza said sarcastically.

"I wasn't trying to run away!"

"Oh, really?" Asami asked, stopping momentarily to stare down intently at Akihito's face; a frown clearly visible on his forehead. "What was it that you were trying to do then?"

"I…I…I thought I'd seen a shadow crossing the balcony outside the window. I was just going to go outside to investigate it. It…It could have been a burglar, you know?"

Asami had to make a conscious effort not to roll his eyes at such a pathetic excuse.

"So you were going to go investigate a shadow on the balcony with a duffel bag full of clothes over your shoulder. Do you think I was born yesterday, Akihito?" He said, very close to losing his patience with the younger man. "…You know, I'm not actually keeping you here as a prisoner. You are free to use the doors whenever you like."

"But I wasn't runnin-"

One stern look from Asami put an end to the start of another crappy explanation. "…Nevermind." Akihito soon added under his breath, watching as Asami resumed his nursing duties.

An uncomfortable silence fell between them then, in which Akihito kept recalling what his friend Kou had related over the phone he'd heard him say the previous night.

The photographer knew that he somehow needed to approach the subject with Asami, but how on earth was he expected to start such a conversation?

He felt a wave of panic run through him as the older man finally placed a bandage over the small cut on his forehead. "There. Done." The yakuza announced, the same no nonsense tone in his voice as he turned his back on Akihito and started packing the utensils he'd used back in the first aid kit.

"Hey…Asami…"

"What?" The older man asked without turning around to face the photographer, who nevertheless tried (quite unsuccessfully) to adopt a jovial tone.

"So…last night…" He started.

"What about last night?"

"So I spoke with my friend Kou this morning about it…"

"Did you?" Asami asked, seemingly uninterested about the piece of information, which made Akihito laugh nervously in return.

"So it seems I might have done…or said…some odd things yesterday night…"

"Odd things?"

More nervous laughter from the younger man ensued.

"You know…stuff that might have come off as out of character…stuff I didn't actually mean to do…or say…"

The look on Asami's face as he finally turned around to face the youngster made Akihito gulp hard.

"Stuff like what, for example?" The yakuza asked, arching an eyebrow at the other man.

It was clear to Akihito that the older man was enjoying making him suffer. "Like…Like..." He stammered.

"…Like admitting you are in love with me in front of everyone at downtown Shibuya and then proceeding to vomit all over my shoes?"

All color was drained from Akihito's face in a matter of seconds. "W-Wha-What? ?" He mumbled quietly, hardly believing his ears. "I-I-I didn't…I mean, I-I-I couldn't possibly…"

"Oh, but you could, you see, and you _did _actually. Loud and clear and in front of every passerby that was in hearing and seeing range of you."

Akihito never once wished as fervently as he did at that moment for a hole to open on the ground in front of him so he could throw himself in it and hide from the rest of the world.

He stared at Asami, who was leaning against the desk where he'd injured his forehead with his arms crossed over his chest, unable to say a word.

"I…I…Huh…"

"_You_ are going to pay for the shoes cleaning bill, that's what you'll do. I'm done with you throwing up all over me whenever you are drunk."

Wait a second…The shoes?

Was that what was bothering Asami about the whole thing? ! Suffice to say, the yakuza's remark further befuddled Akihito's already befuddled mind.

"What?" Was the only coherent word the photographer managed to mutter in response.

Not that Asami seemed to take his confused state into account. "Eat some breakfast now." The yakuza said, pointing towards the food tray he'd brought earlier into Akihito's bedroom. "You need to put some food into your stomach. I brought you all the foods you like."

"What?" Akihito muttered again, looking from Asami to the food tray and back at Asami, who was already making his way out of the bedroom.

"I'll be in the office room if you need me." The older man said, just as Akihito jumped up from the chair he had been sitting on.

"W-Wait just a moment!" He said, a tinge of alarm clearly noticeable in his voice as he grabbed Asami's arm, only to release it again a second afterwards.

"What is it?" Asami asked, stopping to look back at Akihito.

"…Is that it?"

The older man frowned. "Is what it?"

Akihito could feel the skin on his cheeks burning from mortification. Was Asami really going to make him say it out loud again?

"What's the matter, Akihito?"

"I…I…"

"What?"

"What do you mean, what? I said I was in love with you, damn it! In front of all those people!"

His aggravated tone surprised the yakuza, whose eyes widened ever so slightly upon hearing the youngster's words. He was quick to recompose himself though.

"Oh, about that." Asami said casually. "If that's what's bothering you, I don't think you need to worry. Most people that were out on the street were drunk themselves. I hardly think any of them will recall a thing about last night."

"Huh?"

"You don't need to worry yourself about going back to that place."

It suddenly clicked inside the youngster's mind what it was that Asami was referring to.

"I'm not talking about that, you baka. I don't care about what other people might think."

Asami stared at him, clearly confused now. "Then…what?" He asked.

The photographer had a feeling his entire face resembled a ripe tomato by now.

"I'm talking about the fact I confessed I'm in love with you!" Akihito said in one go.

The brief moment of silence that ensued felt like a millennium to the youngster.

Oddly enough, Asami was the one to break it…and with a most unexpected remark at that.

"But I already knew that." The yakuza said calmly, the ghost of an amused smile appearing on his face all of a sudden.

"What? ! T-That's impossible. I-I-I never told you before yesterday."

Asami arched an eyebrow at him. "Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"I can assure you, you did. A few times already."

"When? ! H-How come you know such a thing? It's not possible."

Asami stared at Akihito intently, the same amused smile showing itself more prominently now.

"I know because you talk in your sleep, Akihito." The yakuza finally confessed, watching the other man suddenly turn paler than a ghost.

He saw Akihito's mouth opening and closing as if the youngster was attempting to say something, but he was apparently too shocked with what he'd just learn to be able to make a sound.

"Akihito, I-"

"O-Out." The photographer managed to say, lifting his arm so he could point towards the door of his bedroom. "O-Out of the room. Now!" He said more loudly, watching as Asami arched an eyebrow at him again.

"Are you trying to kick me out of a room I actually own?"

"Fine! _I'll _leave then." Akihito stated, walking past the older man in a hurry.

He didn't manage to go far though, for he soon felt Asami's arms circling his torso, bringing their bodies close together; the older man's breath tickling his ear as the former spoke against it.

"And why do you think I'd let you leave?" Asami whispered huskily, before turning Akihito around and planting a heated kiss straight on the younger man's lips.

Akihito tried to fight against Asami's advances. He really did this time! But a couple of minutes into the kissing extravaganza he felt his knees going weak and his mind starting to get foggy and by the time he felt his own hands willingly search for the buttons on Asami's shirt, he knew he no longer had any command over his body.

* * *

**(later that morning)**

A cloud of white cigarette smoke escaped Asami's lips as he tried to adjust his body as comfortably as possible on the small mattress space available to him.

"Go sleep on your own bed, Asami. This bed is far too narrow for the two of us." A muffled voice reached him from the side.

The yakuza removed the pillow Akihito's face was hiding under, and looked down at his lover's sleepy eyes.

"It's fine like this. You can go to sleep if you want to. I'll wake you up before lunchtime."

An irritated expression crossed the photographer's features, just before he turned on his side in bed, away from Asami's gaze.

"As if I'll ever fall asleep again with you near me!" The young man muttered, grabbing the pillow from Asami's hand and hiding his face under it again.

Asami couldn't help but smile at Akihito's embarrassment. He bent down slowly, lightly tracing his lips against the back of the latter's neck and feeling how the younger man's skin still felt warm from their latest lovemaking session.

"You know, Asami…"

"What?" The older man asked, tracing his lips against Akihito's bare shoulders now.

"It's kind of customary for a person who gets confessed to, to say something in return. I mean…anything really."

Asami stopped midway on Akihito's left shoulder. He supposed the younger man had a point there. He didn't recall ever answering the love confession.

Propping himself up on one arm, he used his other one to gently coach Akihito's body to lie down on its back, removing the pillow once again from the latter's face.

The photographer's cheeks were every shade of red again, as he nervously looked up at his lover's face.

"Well…" Asami started, in mocking seriousness.

"W-Well?..."

"You do know me, Akihito." Asami said with a grin, bending down towards the younger man. "My actions tend to speak louder than any words."

And with that, the yakuza sealed his reply with a passionate kiss.

**The End **


End file.
